CS 197 Computers in Society Fall, 2007

Welcome, Freshmen!

Introductions An now, please tell us about yourselves

Why I Teach CIS Computing has in impact on every field – everyone has something they need to know to work more effectively. People need to understand how computers work to make informed decisions Social and legal issues abound in computing – these aren’t just “geek” concerns.

The Educated Person What should an educated person know about computers and computing? We will try to answer this question in the next 15 weeks.

Textbooks The best information source for this class is the Internet: we will not need any other text Much of this class is about “Current Events” in computing: the latest technology, problems, court cases, and opinions. Another aspect of this class is making sure you know how to find things out in computing.

Rules of CS 197 * No dumb questions: if you don’t understand, speak up. You shouldn’t need any background in computers to handle this course. * No hype: be skeptical about claims involving computers and avoid a “wow – isn’t that cool” way of looking at the field * Participate: this class is a shared investigation of computing; all of us need to talk, investigate, and present information * Specialize: everyone should find some specific area to investigate in detail. Follow your interests!

Computers I've explicitly requested a classroom without computers! This is because I want you to do your computer work OUTSIDE of class. Here, I want attention focused on the presenter, not on your or catching up on the required reading.

Overview My goal is to help you understand and communicate. You need to deal with the following: Tests Participation Presentations Term Paper Homework and Teams

Tests There will be a quiz every week (except this one). All quizzes will be 10 minutes, closed notes, during the end of the Thursday class. I drop the 2 lowest scores. There will be a final. It will be similar to the quizzes. Tests are 20% of your grade.

Homework There will be a variety of homework assignments. Some assignments are worth more than others – see the “points” associated with each homework. Some homework will be for your team, others will be individual. We will create teams at the start of week 3.

Homework #1 You’ll find that there’s already a homework due! Everyone needs to create a home page in the wiki with a picture of you and a brief bio. This picture helps us get to know you – make sure you are recognizable! You MUST link all assignments you do to your home wiki page. You can have a subpage for 197 if you want – I’ll be using the wiki in other courses too.

Term Papers Your term paper is 25% of your grade. You need to start thinking about a topic! There will be numerous deadlines as the term goes on. The term papers are developed publicly (wiki) and iteratively. You’ll get plenty of help as you go. NO LATE WORK!

Participation This is a big part (25%) of your grade! You need to come to every class PREPARDED! There will ALWAYS be a reading assignment – make SURE you do the reading. I will have the reading posted by the end of the previous lecture. You’ll get a grade EVERY DAY. No unexcused absences (or you get a 0!)

Expectations Participation grades: To get an A, you need to Do the reading and understand the basic facts Read beyond the original source material as needed Participate in the discussion and raise your own points regarding the topic Connect the material with areas outside the original topic

Reading Assignments Make SURE you always look in the wiki before class for the reading assignment. On Thursday we will be discussing OLPC – look for the required reading in the wiki. Don’t just read the words – make sure you UNDERSTAND! This means you have to dig beyond the source material.

Presentations Everyone will participate in 4 formal presentations: A short news article An application of computing (team) An integrated presentation (team) A presentation on your term paper

Good Presentations Background reading for the audience – make sure the reading is appropriate (not too long or technical) Poster to advertise your presentation Slides to accompany your presentation You MUST get your materials approved in advance. NO PRESENTATION WILL BE MADE WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL!

Feedback I am here to help you – by getting prior approval I’m giving you a chance to get feedback on your presentation before you give it. We will use anonymous peer review to evaluate your presentations – expect to submit comments on other peoples presentations.

What Make a Good Poster? Let’s look at some posters from last term.

What Make a Good Poster? Highlights some topic – makes you want to read more Graphics that draw attention and are appropriate to the subject Not too many words – but still some concrete facts Quotes – especially be well known people Humor Graphic design

Wiki Our class will be conducted “in” a wiki. What’s a wiki? A wiki is: * A shared place to present and edit information (web pages) * A way to organize information * Something that keeps track of “history” so nothing is forgotten * a form of computer-assisted collaboration

What is a Wiki? A wiki is a website where anyone can edit the pages in the website. Depending on the wiki, you may have to identify yourself (login). Ours will require this. Anyone with a web browser can access our wiki – don’t put anything there you wouldn’t want on your own web page.

Wikis The wikipedia is an encyclopedia that is published as a wiki. We’re using the same “wiki engine”. Our wiki is at The “unofficial text” of this class is the wikipedia: Let’s have a look …

Wiki Skills Demonstrate: * The home wiki and links * How to create an identity * How to edit a page * How to add a page * Basic wiki markup * Pictures

Reading for Understanding Let’s read a short article and talk about it and how to best get the information needed to understand it. Let’s look at Schoolboards: net dangers over-rated; bring social networks to school

How to read this Who authored the study this is based on? Do they have an agenda? What technical terms do you need to understand in this reading? Where might you find other comments? Where might you find other views? What other relevant online information might exist? Do the comments illuminate?

Discussion Do you agree with this? Is there real research that proves social networking is beneficial to education? What are the real dangers of unrestricted Internet use? Is the sample size big enough to make these results meaningful? Is “.08%” an acceptable “danger level”?